Military jets at night over west Wales, UK on Jan. 6th

[treesparrow]

There were some very noisy jet manoeuvres in the dark at around 5: 30 pm locally in this rural and sparsely populated part of the UK. Military jets conducting exercises during the day and occasionally at night is not so unusual hereabouts.

On the evening in question though they were extremely loud and I stepped outside to take a look. I saw the lights of at least 3 jets involved engaged in 'top gun' type flying.

They seemed to chasing each other at severe angles, climbing at about 10 to 15 degrees off the vertical.

I don't know if the jets involved were British or American (or both). Apparently out of the base at Lakenheath, Suffolk, England.

Nothing reported in the local media reported, though some on social media.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1876351942114611468

https://twitter.com/x/status/1876529358862798976

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7457189673249656096

All a bit ominous -maybe training for something in the Middle East in the very near future before or during the early Trump presidency? Fwiw.

 

[Ricardo]

Usually there's regulated airspace for such type of thing , was this outside of such an area ? ( sounds like it )

 

[Nienna]

All a bit ominous -maybe training for something in the Middle East in the very near future before or during the early Trump presidency? Fwiw.

I was thinking of against Russia since the EU has been repeatedly telling the people to prepare for a war with Russia.

 

[Joe]

A way to find out if they were military jets on training (which happens fairly often) is to check Flightradar24.com. In the past I've seen military jets on training flights over the UK (and specifically over Wales) shown on there. I just checked however, and there were no military planes over any part of Wales last night.

 

[EmeraldR]

maybe they deliberately switched their transponders off- knowing full well that if identified the local community /residents would kick up a fuss and complain about thier nightime shenanigans !
back in the late 80s I was living in a meditation centre in the welsh valleys and they were at that back then sometimes flying 50 ft above meditiators doing slow walking meditations on the lawn ! it was like a sabre sword cutting a silk sheet !!

 

[Joe]

maybe they deliberately switched their transponders off- knowing full well that if identified the local community /residents would kick up a fuss and complain about thier nightime shenanigans !
back in the late 80s I was living in a meditation centre in the welsh valleys and they were at that back then sometimes flying 50 ft above meditiators doing slow walking meditations on the lawn ! it was like a sabre sword cutting a silk sheet !!

Yeah, quite possible. I'd say that they don't always have their transponders on, for various reasons.

 

[treesparrow]

Now some mainstream media coverage.

Residents stunned as stealth fighters 'dogfight' in sky​

A large training exercise by the US Airforce stunned residents in parts of west Wales on Monday evening.

Multiple jets, believed to be F-35A stealth fighters, conducted high energy manoeuvres at low level, leading to hundreds of comments on social media.

Long term residents of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire said they hadn't encountered such intense and noisy training at night-time before.

Several witnesses said the pilots appeared to be "dogfighting" at low altitude.

Major Hope R. Cronin, the Chief of Public Affairs at the US airbase at Lakenheath in Suffolk confirmed that jets from the 48th Fighter Wing were involved.

"Aircraft from RAF Lakenheath were conducting routine night flying training sorties in and around the airspace over Wales," he said.

"Pilots are required to maintain certain proficiencies and flying in the hours of darkness is one such set of skills."

The UK Ministry of Defence has a number of tactical training areas in Wales, including Low Flying Area 7, which includes the famous "Mach Loop".

Video here: Stealth fighters 'dogfight' in sky as residents left stunned


'Alarming' US fighter jets seen flying low over large part of Wales

People in west Wales have been left looking up into the sky at the “alarming” sight of US fighter jets flying overhead late at night and at low altitude. Communities in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire were left shocked on Monday night due to level of noise coming from the low-flying aircraft.Hearing speeding aircraft is nothing new if you live in west Wales, but Monday night’s activity startled many due to the number of aircraft, the height they were flying at, and the fact the exercise took place at night. The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the aircraft did not belong to them, but rather the US military who were carrying out “routine night flying training”. It’s understood the aircraft were F35-A fighter jets based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.Despite being an RAF station, Lakenheath is currently home to US Air Force aircraft and military personnel. Monday night’s activity certainly took people by surprise, with one woman commenting on social media that she had “never seen that many (jets) in the evening”. Another person said the noise of the fighter jets was “very loud in Carmarthen”, while one woman said she saw four of them flying in a figure of eight and that the noise generated was “immense”.

Nothing “routine" about this to the many familiar with these exercises over the years.